Westhill graduate seeks support for DREAM Act

Olivia Just, Stamford Advocate

Olivia Just, Correspondent

Published 9:22 pm, Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lorena Sandoval passes out fliers in Veterans Park in Stamford, Conn. on Thursday September 23, 2010 to gather support for an event later this week to promote the Dream Act, federal legislation that would allow young illegal immigrants to become citizens if they go to college or join the army.
Photo: Kathleen O'Rourke

Lorena Sandoval passes out fliers in Veterans Park in Stamford, Conn. on Thursday September 23, 2010 to gather support for an event later this week to promote the Dream Act, federal legislation that would allow young illegal immigrants to become citizens if they go to college or join the army.
Photo: Kathleen O'Rourke

STAMFORD -- When the much-debated defense spending bill failed to pass in the Senate this week, Lorena Sandoval was spurred into action.

The Westhill High School graduate, now a student at Norwalk Community College, embarked on a campaign to raise support for the DREAM Act, an amendment attached to the defense bill that would allow children of illegal immigrants to attend college and join the military.

Though the bill has been defeated this week, there is still hope it could gain support as a stand-alone bill.

Which is why Sandoval, without showing a trace of hesitation, marched up to groups of bus riders in Veterans Park Thursday afternoon with a stack of bright blue flyers under her arm, spreading the word about the legislation.

"It's not fair that I can't go to college and have financial aid," Sandoval said. "I haven't done anything bad except go to school."

Sandoval came to the U.S. from Guatemala when she was 12 years old, and is now working on a degree in marketing at NCC, but is hampered by the laws prohibiting her from seeking financial aid or joining the Air Force, as she had originally wanted to.

The DREAM, or Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, is a bipartisan legislation that would allow children of immigrants to become legal U.S. residents after attending college or serving in the military for two years. In order to qualify, young people must have arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16, have lived here for at least 5 years and have graduated from an American high school.

"We're talking about people who always thought they were American, and a lot of them were surprised to learn they weren't legal," said immigration lawyer Philip Berns. Sandoval called Berns on Tuesday with a plan of action of her campaign on behalf of the DREAM Act, which includes a meeting of supporters afternoon in Berns' law office.

"I was really glad that someone in this area had taken an interest," Berns said. "Here's a young person who's directly affected, and who knows a lot of people who are directly affected."

"That was a huge disappointment," Sandoval said of the bill's failure in Congress. "Everybody has a right, especially to go to school."

On Tuesday, Sandoval led a group of supporters stationed with signs outside the Government Center, and said she was surprised by a negative response received from a passerby.

"I was a little scared, because a lot of people don't support it," she said. "We're trying to get the word out there and get more people to be with us and march with us, just like the big cities are doing."

Approximately 65,000 students who graduate from high school each year without being able to secure college scholarships, jobs, or positions in the military based on their immigration status.

They are members of what is known as the "1.5 generation" of young people who are raised as Americans, but not considered legal residents.

"Can you imagine how unfair it is that we're not giving them that chance?" Berns said. "If more Americans heard this side of the story, it would discredit everything else that's on TV and the radio and in general conversations."

Sandoval argued that allowing thousands of young people to become legal residents would benefit the economy and allow them to give back to the country.

"It's not only going to be beneficial for us, but it's going to be beneficial for the economy," she said.

She also hopes to continue to expand support of the DREAM Act in the months to come.

"If young people rise to the occasion, organize, push for it in a systematic way, there's nothing to stop Congress putting it in," Berns said. "Who's to say this small group of students isn't the start of a butterfly effect?"